Sweet Bit
by PheonixFireBlack
Summary: What happens when a small seven year old child suddenly appears on the doorstep of a certain platinum blonde haired vampire's crypt? Read...and you might find out. (First BTVS fic. Be gentle, please readreview)
1. Enter Small Child on Doorstep

Title - Sweet Bit By - PheonixFireBlack Summary - What happens when a small seven year old child has suddenly appeared on the doorstep of a certain platinum blonde haired vampire's crypt? Read...and you might find out Category - Buffy The Vampire Slayer Genre - Humor/General Feedback - Yes! Please! I don't do this all for nothing, you know! lol! Critisism - Again: Yes! Please! Look, people! I'm actually ASKING you to critisice me! Whatever you give to me, I shall not accept as a flame, for I believe I am actually ASKING for them. Disclaimer - Yes. Of course I own Buffy. I was very sad when I decided to end it. *rolls eyes* yeah...right. I don't own, I said so, you can't sue. There! Problem solved! Case closed and class is dismissed. Notes - Yes...crap summary, believe me, I know (I was there when I wrote it). Anyway, I don't think there's much to say on this one other than the fact that it is my first posted BTVS fic and only the second that I've ever written. I guess this would kind of have to be AU seeing as how Spike's been dead for awhile and vampires can't exactally have childern. *nods* Yep...In this strange little fic, Spike...well...you'll see. I hope what I've decided to do to make him have a daughter makes sense. *grin* Hope you can enjoy this with me and my catch-the-episodes-that-I-can knowledge that I have of BTVS. I hope I don't miss big important things if I try and mention them. lol. This will not be set during, near, or around the time of any episode, simply because I don't think I could tell you were to imagine it to be. So...that one's up to you. *waves* See you later! Oh! And don't fooorgeeet: Review! *claps* lol!  
  
~*~*~*~  
Ch 1 - Enter Small Child on Doorstep  
12:03am - Just turned Friday morning  
  
It was dark out tonight. Not that it wasn't normally dark out at midnight, but it was darker than usual. There were no stars out tonight, and the moon was a mere sliver in the sky. It didn't matter to Spike, he tended to lean towards liking the darkness a bit more anyway. Even without the fact that he was a vampire, Spike figured that he would like night better anyway, but he everyone that knew him knew that his liking of darkness came mostly because he was a vampire. Spike reached into the brown paper bag he was carrying, getting out a pack of cigarettes. He barely managed to get the pack open without dropping the entire bag, which was chock full of cigarettes. It wasn't like he needed anything else, he was dead and plus, he had blood packets back at the crypt. He finally managed to get the cigarette out and lit, bag still in his hand and in tact. He nodded, satisfied with his accomplishment as he took a drag on the cigarette. Spike finally put the paper bag in one hand and took the cigarette between his finger in his right hand. He released the smoke as he looked up. When he let his head level back out, he could see the crypt. Not only that, but he could see someone else was there. Or, at least, something was there. There was a figure sitting there on the doorstep, if it could be called that, of the crypt. He squinted into the darkness, as if he thought it would actually do him justice as dark as it was. He shrugged, guessing that it was an animal and whatever it was would run off when he got too close. Spike soon learned that, whatever it was, wasn't moving. He was about five feet from it now, however, it was too dark to actually see what was there. Maybe it was a dead animal. He sighed and set the paper bag down, leaning down the pick up the dead thing. He soon found, however, that it, whatever it was, was far from being dead. As soon as he had his hands on it, it squirmed. He also quickly found out that it was no animal. It made a groaning noise and slowly sat up. "Mmm...Who're you?" The voice was fememnine.  
  
"Who am I? Who the bloody hell are you?" Spike countered.  
  
"My name's Lydia. L-Y-I-D-I-A." She spelled her name out.  
  
"Alright...My name's Spike. Need me to spell it for you?"  
  
"No. S-P-I-K-E. Spike." When she said his name, Spike noted that she kind of sounded like the slayer, or maybe it was just his imagination.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm supposed to be with my daddy."  
  
"Well, sorry to say, but he's not going to be here."  
  
"Oh." She said simply, however, she quickly brightened up again. "Can I stay here tonight, mister?"  
  
"Call me Spike and...why?"  
  
"Why? Beeecaaauuuse!" She held the word out, how kids like to do. "I'm only seven! I can't stay anywhere by myself." She said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"Well, then, I guess you'll have to won't you? If you can't go off on your own and you are already here...Guess you'll just have to stay here, won't you?"  
  
The child nodded furiously.  
  
"Right, then. Inside."  
  
"Where?" She sounded genuinely confused.  
  
Spike nodded towards the door, "Just there."  
  
"Oh." She looked up at him, "So...you live here...behind a graveyard?"  
  
"Yeah." Spike answered, pushing the door open and letting her in.  
  
"Why's it so dark in here? I can't see anything!"  
  
"Well, to be honest, pet, I'm a vampire."  
  
"A vampire?" She questioned, "Then why are you being nice to me? I thought all vampires were evil." She titled her head in confusion.  
  
Spike shook his head, "Gonna play twenty questions, huh? Well, after this one, you've only got fourteen left." Spike flipped on one of the soft light lamps. He was really glad that it was only sunlight that killed him.  
  
Lydia had her hands on her hips, looking up at Spike. "Are you gonna ever answer my question?"  
  
"I used to be evil. But I changed."  
  
"Evil guys don't change! They stay evil...until they die...or in your case, since you are a vampire and all, you'd have to get staked. But evil guys don't just change! Why?"  
  
"Why? Why what?" Spike was very obviously not used to having small children around and having them jump from one thing to another.  
  
"Why did you change?"  
  
"Well...sometimes you just see the error of your ways."  
  
"Buuuuttttt..."  
  
"But what? There's nothing else. Why are you pressing like that?" He asked, making his way to lay on the couch.  
  
Lydia followed the man and jumped up in his lap. "Because!" She shouted. "I know there's more! There has to be more! It wouldn't be a good story otherwise." She grinned.  
  
"Lydia, I have a question for you. How--"  
  
"Uh-uh. I don't think so. I'm asking the questions here, mister. When I'm done with all of my questions, you can ask me your questions."  
  
"Alright, then. How many more questions you got up your sleeve, pet?"  
  
"I don't know. Anyway, what's the story? Why did you really change from evil to....whatever it is you are now."  
  
"There are only two sides of that coin, luv. Evil...and good. I was evil...then I fell for the enemy and...after a couple years...I slowly began to decrease in my evil ways. Not to mention I couldn't hurt any bleeding human that went by me because of that damn chip in my head. Anyway, that's it, really. I was evil, got a chip in my head and couldn't hurt anyone, I fell for the enemy and...here we are. I'm fighting for good now. But I've still got the same bad-ass attitude as before." He paused. "For the most part."  
  
Lydia sat there in Spike's lap for a moment, seemingly thinking about what he had just told her. She grinned, "Ok!" She declared. "Your turn!"  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"If you were liiistening I told you earlier! I'm seven!" Maybe it was just so she knew that he would get it, but no matter the reason, she child held up her fingers to show him.  
  
"Right. What are you doing here, exactly? How did you get here?"  
  
"I'm supposed to be with my daddy. My Aunt sent me. She's a witch. Buuttt...I dunno how I got here. She must have done it wrong. You're not the man that was in the picture she showed me." She shook her head furiously, causing her light brown, wavy locks to go everywhere. When she was done, she used both of her tiny hands to brush her curtain of thick hair behind her ears to reveal a big grin.  
  
"How are you so sure I'm not the man she showed you?" Spike asked curiously.  
  
"Well, first of all, he didn't have blond hair...he had light brown hair."  
  
"People can change their hair color, pet."  
  
Lydia scowled at him, "And...." She said definitely, "His name was William." Being the seven year old she was, Lydia stuck her tongue out at the man.  
  
"Do you know anything about this father of yours?"  
  
"Mmm...maaaybe." She drug the word out, smiling, her blue-gray eyes sparkling.  
  
"Come on, what's your story, luv?"  
  
She giggled. "Luv? Auntie said daddy used to call me that...but she also said that he really liked calling me Sweet Bit." She shrugged and quickly went on to the next thing, "Anyway, mummy and daddy had me and daddy ran away. Then mummy ran away, but she left with my Aunt. I've lived with her ever since I was four. I don't remember mummy or daddy but I do know that my daddy wrote stuff. Auntie says that he was called William The Bloody because his poetry was so awful." She was giggling as she said the last line. "Auntie was supposed to send me to my daddy because she couldn't take care of me anymore. But she must have done the spell wrong because you're not my daddy, are you?" She smiled, "But I like you." In a completely unexpected movement, the girl leaned down and hugged Spike.  
  
Spike wasn't used to having little children hanging on him, but he patted her awkwardly on the back lightly. As she sat back up in his lap again, Spike slowly began to speak. "You said...that you're father's name was William and...he wrote poetry..."  
  
"Mmm-hmm and he was called William The Bloody 'cause his poetry was so bad."  
  
"Right...and...and you said that he called you...Sweet Bit?"  
  
"Mmm-hmm...why?" She brightened up, grinning, "Do you know my daddy? Can get me to him?" She sounded extremely hopeful of this.  
  
"Kid, I think I am you're dad."  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	2. You KIDNAPPED Her, Didn't You?

Sweet Bit  
  
Disclaimer - From here on out: see Chapter 1 Notes - None this time, but I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I'm already in LOVE with Lydia. Isn't she cute? lol. Read on!  
  
~*~*~*~  
Ch 2 - You KIDNAPPED her, didn't you?  
12:30am - Still early Friday morning  
  
Spike wasn't used to having little children hanging on him, but he patted her awkwardly on the back lightly. As she sat back up in his lap again, Spike slowly began to speak. "You said...that you're father's name was William and...he wrote poetry..."  
  
"Mmm-hmm and he was called William The Bloody 'cause his poetry was so bad."  
  
"Right...and...and you said that he called you...Sweet Bit?"  
  
"Mmm-hmm...why?" She brightened up, grinning, "Do you know my daddy? Can get me to him?" She sounded extremely hopeful of this.  
  
"Kid, I think I am you're dad."  
  
She shook her head, causing her curls to fly everywhere again. "Nmmm-mmm."  
  
"How can you be so sure? The picture she showed you had to be pretty old, at least seven years. People change, pet."  
  
"Nu-uh! You can't be my daddy! You can't be the man that Auntie told me about! You just...you can't be!" She shouted, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
Spike wasn't sure what exactly about the child did it to him, but he could feel his facial features soften. "Lydia....luv...don't cry."  
  
"But you can't be my daddy! You can't be the man Auntie told me about! You can't be!"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"'Cause...Daddy was nice...he wasn't evil...he wasn't ever evil. He had shoddy poetry but he wasn't evil." Tears were sliding down her cheeks now.  
  
"I'm not evil anymore, luv. I'm all good, it's alright."  
  
"But my daddy wasn't ever evil! Never! Not my daddy!" She yelled.  
  
Spike sighed and looked up, "Why?", he mouthed. He looked at the child that was sitting on him again. "You're going to have to accept it, Sweet Bit." Spike's eyes widened. Had he really just said that? There was no way that had actually just come out of his mouth. Ok, so maybe it did, but how? Why?  
  
"Bu--but---but I don't...I don't wanna!"  
  
"We've all got to do a lot of things we don't want to in life, luv." He rolled his eyes and muttered, more to himself, "And in death."  
  
"But...you're a vampire..." Her voice was shaky from the silent crying she had been doing the last few minutes. "Vampires...can't have kids."  
  
Spike shook his head, "I don't know how to explain it, I don't even know how this happened myself, but...if you're telling the truth about your father...it's me."  
  
She just sat there, tears pouring down her cheeks, looking at him. The next thing Spike knew, Lydia was laying on top of him, her head on his chest, crying. He noticed that this, the child crying, actually pained him. He didn't understand why this was happening, or how he ended up with a kid, but here he was, his daughter crying into him, pain searing through him at the sight. After a few minutes, Spike made her sit up on his midriff, making her look at him. "Lydia," He started, waiting for her to look up at him.  
  
Lydia made a futile attempt to wipe the tears away, this notion being unless for they were replaced with fresh ones, before looking up at him. "What?" Her voice was already horse because of the crying.  
  
Spike reached up and with his left thumb, wiped the tears away. He slowly put his hand back down and looked at her. "I've got a question for you, luv."  
  
"Okay..." She muttered.  
  
"What's crying going to get you?"  
  
She shrugged.  
  
"Is it going to get you anything at all?"  
  
She shrugged her shoulders again. "I dunno..."  
  
"Do you think it will?"  
  
"No.."  
  
"Then what are you crying for? You wanted to be with your daddy, right?"  
  
She nodded slowly. "Mmm-hmm...."  
  
"Then why are you crying now that you've found him?"  
  
Lydia leaned backwards into Spike's knees, thinking. "I don't know..."  
  
"What are we gonna do with you? I can't do much in daylight."  
  
"Obviously." she said.  
  
An idea struck him. "I've got to get you over to Summer's."  
  
"Summer's?"  
  
"The Slayer--er--Buffy's--er--a...friend of mine. I've got to get you to her house." Spike picked her up and set her on the couch, walking towards where the couple had entered the crypt.  
  
Lydia followed him, grinning, "Is she the reason?"  
  
Spike stopped in picking up his duster. "What?" He asked, looking down at her.  
  
"Buffy. Is she the one you fell for?"  
  
Spike seemed a bit standoffish, "Yeah...why?"  
  
"Does she know?"  
  
"Eh...sort of, in a complicated sort of manner. Why?" He quickly added, "You aren't going to go around talking about everything I've told you, are you?"  
  
"No, silly!" She giggled and shook her head, "I just wanted to know if she knew!" She grinned.  
  
Spike had finished putting the jacket on and lit a cigarette. "Come on, pet."  
  
"You smoke?" The girl sounded absolutely astonished as he picked her up, placing her on his hip and walking out of the crypt.  
  
"Yes. You sound shocked, why?"  
  
"Smoking's not good for you." She declared knowingly.  
  
"I don't have to worry about that, Sweet Bit."  
  
Lydia giggled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You've called me that twice now!"  
  
"What?" Spike continued to play dumb.  
  
"Sweet Bit!" She declared, grinning.  
  
"Right...does it annoy you?"  
  
The child shook her head as furiously as she had the previous time, only this time instead of only her own face, her hair was slapping Spike as well. She giggled, "Why would it annoy me..." She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Daddy?"  
  
Spike smiled at that. It was strange, a child actually calling him daddy, even if it was in an ambivalent manner. He didn't blame her for being shy about it; she had only just met her father for the first time. "Well, we're almost there, Lil' Bit."  
  
"Another name...but I like Sweet Bit." She grinned.  
  
"Alright, then. I'll remember that." He said as he stepped up onto the porch of the Summer's home. He set the child down and knocked on the door. Normally, he would have just barged in, however, he happened to know that he was only to be invited into the house.  
  
After a few moments, Anya answered the door. "Spike? What are you doing here at one in the morning?" She asked, confused. However, before Spike could say anything, Anya saw Lydia and went nuts for a moment. "Awww...she's so cute!" She gushed. She looked up at Spike, "Did you kidnap the poor child, Spike?"  
  
"No, I did not kidnap her."  
  
"Oh my God! He kidnaped her and now he's lying about it!" She turned inside the house, yelling for the other two women. "Buffy! Willow! Come here! To the door, quick!"  
  
The red-head and the blond were at the front door in a flash. "What's going on?" Buffy asked just as Willow said, "Where's the fire?"  
  
"There's no fire..." Anya said slowly, a little confused on what Willow had asked. She shook her head and turned to Buffy, "Spike's kidnaped a kid and he just lied to me about it!"  
  
Buffy's eyes widened. "You kidnaped a kid?" She shouted. "Spike! I thought your evil days were over!"  
  
"So did I!" Willow yelled. "Am I gonna have to put a spell on you, Spike?"  
  
"Lydia, come here." He said.  
  
The girl walked over to him and looked up. "What?"  
  
Spike picked her up, placing her on his hip, much like before. "If they let us inside, will you tell these three nutty women about yourself, Sweet Bit?"  
  
Lydia looked at the three women, who all three wore confused and shocked looks at what Spike had said, back to her father, and grinned. "Yeah, of course..." She had almost called him daddy, but decided against it. She liked the funny looks the three women before she and her father had on their faces.  
  
"Come in, Come in." The three said as one, seriously wanting to know what was going on.  
  
As they entered the house, Lydia leaned towards Spike. "Is she the one?" She was practically stage-whispering, pointing towards Willow.  
  
"No, that's Willow." Spike whispered back.  
  
"Her?" Now she was pointing at the blond.  
  
"No...that's Anya."  
  
"Then it must be her!" She said, exasperated and pointing at Buffy.  
  
Spike grinned, "Yeah...it's her."  
  
"What are you guys talking about? And why do you keep pointing at me--us!" Anya demanded.  
  
"Nothing. I told her about you and she was getting who was who straight." Spike said smoothly.  
  
"Right." The three women said in unison again.  
  
"You three have got to stop doing that. It's starting to freak me out." Spike said, putting Lydia down and sitting in a nearby chair.  
  
It had been useless and lacking of any point to set the light headed child down. She simply walked over to him and climbed up into her father's lap. She didn't know the other three and to be honest, she was kind of scared of the one that had answered the door. She decided that she would tell her father that. "Daddy," She was stage whispering again, "The lady that answered the door is scary."  
  
Spike glanced at Anya and to keep from bursting out laughing, he settled for a chuckle. "Yes...she can be quite scary sometimes, luv."  
  
"Did she just call you what I think she called you, Spike?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well, I don't know. What do you think she called me?"  
  
"I called him daddy, silly!" Lydia laughed like she thought it was clear that that was what she had called him.  
  
Spike laughed along with her, however, his laughter was caused not by being seven years old and finding amusement in strange things, but the look on Willow, Buffy, and Anya's faces when they heard the child declare this information.  
  
Buffy slowly walked over and bent down to her haunches, getting about eye- level with the child. "Did he tell you to say this? Was this...planned?"  
  
Lydia tilted her head, but quickly straightened up and shook her head. "No, silly. My name's Lydia Nichole "Sweet Bit" Romeiriz and this is my daddy!" She stated.  
  
"Right...so...he really...is...you're father?"  
  
She nodded. "Yep. Mummy ran away. Well, he ran away first, but then Mummy ran away too, but she left me with Aunite. Then she sent me to daddy because she said she couldn't take care of me any more." She nodded at her statement.  
  
Buffy held back a snicker and nodded, "I guess...she thought it was best to send you to live with you're...father."  
  
"Why do you keep saying is so funny? You make like it's hard to believe that he has a kid. I mean, he is a vampire and it's not actually possible for vampires to have kids, but it doesn't matter. All the facts added up, right daddy?"  
  
"That's right, Sweet Bit."  
  
"Daaaaaady!" She stretched the name out.  
  
"What?" Spike sounded amused.  
  
Lydia turned to look at her father. She had a very straight and serious face and she spoke in a very dramatically blatant tone. "Stop."  
  
"Are you demanding me to stop?"  
  
"Yes." She said simply, looking him dead in the eyes.  
  
"You're my child, alright." He grinned.  
  
"If that isn't the truth...you two are both way too blatant for your own good." Buffy agreed.  
  
Lydia blinked, confused. "Huh?"  
  
Buffy, Anya, Willow, and Spike all laughed at the young one's confusion.  
  
"This isn't fuuunnnyyy!" She whined, but before she could continue, she yawned. Big.  
  
"Are you tired, sweetie?" Willow asked her. The girl nodded and Willow took her from Spike. "Let's get you upstairs, changed and off to bed, okay?"  
  
She shook her head, her hair flying everywhere. "Nu-uh!"  
  
"Why not?" Willow asked, taken aback.  
  
"Cause! I have ta say good night!" She smiled.  
  
"Alright." Willow laughed lightly and put her down.  
  
Lydia ran over to her dad and climbed back up in his lap. She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Night, daddy!" She climbed down from his lap and turned to look up at Buffy, "Goodnight...um...future mummy!" She exclaimed and quickly went on to Anya. "Goodnight...scary lady." Was the only thing that came to the child's mind. Lydia ran back to Willow and lifted her arms up to be picked up. "I like you guys." She said looking around at the three women.  
  
Anya followed Willow and Lydia. She had a very shocked look on her face. "Why do you keep calling me scary lady?" She asked the child.  
  
Lydia looked slightly ashamed, but not for long. "Cause you were! You were all...ahhh! And yelling." She said, throwing her hands up in the air when she said 'ahhh!'.  
  
"That's no reason to call me scary lady!" Anya protested.  
  
"Screaming Lady better?" She grinned.  
  
Anya looked astonished. "No!"  
  
Back downstairs, Buffy was donning an expression similar to Anya's, however, Buffy's mixed confusion in as well. She slowly sat down on the arm of the couch behind her, looking intently at Spike. "What did...What did she mean by that?"  
  
"I didn't think anything about it when I told her, but...I told her that I used to be evil but I stopped because I fell for someone. That's what all the pointing and loud whispering was about a few minute ago. She was trying to figure out which one of you three was the one I fell for." Spike was actually managing to look a little guilty.  
  
"Oh. So...she thinks...that we..."  
  
"I don't know. She's seven. I told her that I fell for you and she made the connection that...you're going to be her Mum."  
  
"Wow." Buffy said simply. "That's...yeah...she's definitely seven."  
  
"You should hear some of the vocabulary the kid spouts out."  
  
"Sweet Bit, huh?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not deaf, Spike. You called her Sweet Bit twice."  
  
"Yeah...uh...when she was telling me what her Grandmum had told her about her father...she mentioned something about him calling her Sweet Bit and..." He shrugged, "I dunno...I just started calling her that."  
  
"You always have had issues with calling people by their name."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Slayer, Summers, Red, I could go on for hours here. Do you really want me to?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Thank, God, 'cause I don't want to either."  
  
Suddenly, there was a scream coming from upstairs. The two looked at each other, frowning. What was going on up there?  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	3. PinkFrillyand SHOPPING!

Sweet Bit  
  
Disclaimer - Chapter 1...that's all I'm going to say. Notes - This should be fun. Just look at the title. It should expalain everything *laughs* This should be fun!  
  
~*~*~*~  
Ch 3 - Pink...Frilly...and SHOPPING!  
1:28am - STILL early Friday Morning  
  
Suddenly, there was a scream coming from upstairs. The two looked at each other, frowning. What was going on up there? The pair of adults immediately stood up and ran upstairs. Buffy was in the lead and Spike followed behind her. For some reason, seeing as how it had very much obviously been his daughter that was screaming, Spike thought that this seemed just a little backwards. Oh well, it didn't matter, right? When they reached the bedroom, Buffy was the first to speak. "What's with all the screaming?"  
  
Lydia, who was standing in the middle of the bed, looked over at the two that were in the doorway. The child's eyes were as wide as they could be as she spoke. "Daddy! She tried to put in in pink....and frilly!" She yelled, pointing at Anya.  
  
"Anya....this is my child. What in hell's name would make you think that she would wear pink? Or anything that was even remotely...frilly?"  
  
"Well....she's just a little girl! I thought she would like pink!"  
  
"Well you are very wrong!" The girl yelled.  
  
"What's wrong with pink?" Anya asked, a hand on her hip.  
  
"It's ugly." Lydia said simply.  
  
"Well, we could always get something else, Lydia." Willow spoke up, "What do you want?"  
  
"Anything that's dark. Black....or red...or both...Yeah...black and red are my favorite colors!" She grinned and jumped up and down on the bed a few times.  
  
Willow shook her head but took the frilly, pink almost tutu-looking clothing from Anya and turned to get something else. "Buffy, did you know that your mother was a pack-rat?"  
  
"Yeah. She's kept all my clothes that I thought had been thrown out. I found that out a few years ago."  
  
Willow came back with a red t-shirt and a pair of black slack-like pants. "This better?"  
  
Lydia nodded furiously. "Yeah!"  
  
Spike, Buffy, and Anya went back downstairs and left Willow to dress Lydia. "Hey! Why do I have to do this alone?" Willow asked, but the three ignored her. She shrugged. "Oh well..."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
4:07pm - Friday afternoon  
  
It was just after four o'clock and Buffy had come to a realization of sorts. If this kid was going to be staying with them, they would need to get her some clothes. This should be fun, huh? She thought about how last night had gone. If Anya had anything to do with it, the poor child would always be clad in something of a very girly nature. For some reason, Buffy thought that this would not bode well with the child. She shook her head and started to go towards the basement. She was going to suggest clothes shopping to Spike, see what he thought of it. She heard the door shut as she made her way down the stairs. "Spike!" She shouted  
  
"What?" He yelled back.  
  
"We need to go shopping!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes as she got to the last stair and walked over to stand in the middle of the basement-room. "Well, if the kid's going to be staying with us, she's going to be needing clothes, isn't she?"  
  
"Oh...well...I guess you're right. See you, then."  
  
Buffy raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You honestly think that Lydia is going to go if you don't?"  
  
"Well, I can't exactaly go. Sunlight, Vampire. The two don't tend to mix very well."  
  
Buffy sighed and shrugged, "Ok, but she is soooo your's when we get back."  
  
"Alright..."  
  
With that, Buffy went back upstairs to find Lydia.  
  
~*~*~*~  
4:14pm - Friday Afternoon  
  
Buffy had gone up to her room to find Lydia jumping on the bed and up here all alone. "Why are you up here, in my room, alone?"  
  
"Because...no one would play with me."  
  
"Why are you jumping on my bed?"  
  
"Because...there's nothing else to do."  
  
"Do you want to go shopping today?"  
  
"I dunno. Why?"  
  
"Well, you're going to be here for awhile and, I think you might want some clothes."  
  
"I thought your mom kept a lot of clothes and stuff."  
  
"Don't you want new clothes? And...your own?"  
  
Lydia stopped jumping and plopped down to sit in the middle of the bed. She seemed to think about this. Finally, she came to a conclusion. "Ok!" She bounced off the bed and landed on her feet in front of the blond. "Let's go!"  
  
"Alright." Buffy said, allowing herself to be pulled downstairs into the living room by the girl.  
  
"Ok! Let's go get daddy!"  
  
"Uh...Lydia...your dad can't come."  
  
"Oooohhhh yeah....he's a vampire. I forgot. Can we go later?"  
  
"Uh...why don't we go and...get over with now?" Buffy asked, hopeful.  
  
"No." Lydia said simply. "I want my daddy to come with us! And since he can't come when it's light out, we can go later...tonight...when he can come!"  
  
"Oh-kay...but...don't you want to just get this over with? I mean, it'd be alot easier that way, wouldn't it?" Buffy pressed going now.  
  
"Yes...but easy isn't what I want. Daddy coming with us is what I want."  
  
"You don't always get what you want in life."  
  
"So? I want my dad come with us."  
  
"You don't take authority too well, do you?"  
  
"No. And I will get my way. I'm sooo having my daddy come with us."  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm seriously starting to wonder how long this is going to go on." She muttered before declaring, "We're going now and that's final."  
  
Lydia stood there for a moment, looking up into the eyes of the woman who she had only just the night before thought would be her new mummy. After a few moments, she screamed and ran towards the basement. "Daddy!" She ran down the stairs into the basement, tripping on the last one and falling to the cold, hard basement floor. "Ow!" She declared before sitting up and looking at her knee. "That hurt!" She shouted before getting up. "Daddy!" She ran over to his bed and jumped onto him, landing on his stomach. "Daddy!"  
  
"What is it, luv?"  
  
"Buffy won't let me go shopping later!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"She said that we need to go shopping. I said ok. She said that we should go now. I said let's go get daddy. Then I remembered that you couldn't come, so I said that we could always go later, when you can come. You know what she said, daddy?"  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"She looked at me and said that we were going now...and that was supposed to be the end of it!" The girl sounded absolutely shocked that Buffy would do such a thing.  
  
"She does have the tendency to be a bit demanding."  
  
"But daaaady! I wanna go with you and she won't let me wait 'til later when you can come!" The seven year old whined.  
  
"Well, then, I'll just have to talk to her, won't I?"  
  
"Uh-huh!"  
  
"And if that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to settle for kidnaping you, won't I?"  
  
"I don't know...I guess."  
  
"Alright, then. You stay here, don't mess with anything, and I'll go talk to her, alright?"  
  
"Ok!" She beamed as her father picked her up and put her down on the bed. "Good luck!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
4:23pm - Friday Afternoon  
  
Only a few minutes had gone by and Spike was coming back down the stairs to see Lydia. He found that she was still sitting on the bed where he had left her and nothing seemed to be out of place. He raised an eyebrow at the girl, "I thought you had a problem with authority?"  
  
"Only when the person is inconveniencing me."  
  
"You are not seven years old. Even I don't say inconveniencing."  
  
"Just because you don't say something, doesn't mean I can't."  
  
"But you're supposed to be seven!"  
  
"So?" She retaliated, sticking her tongue out at him  
  
"Then again, maybe you are."  
  
~*~*~*~  
8:33pm - Friday Evening  
  
Lydia was jumping up and down on the couch. "Come oooon! Let's goooo!" She yelled.  
  
"Don't look at me, pet, it's the blond that's taking so long."  
  
Lydia paused in her jumping. "Daddy....you are blond!"  
  
"Not naturally." He tried to defend himself, then realized that this was a seven year old girl and continued with: "You know what I meant."  
  
"Are you suuure?" She sing-songed.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes and ignored her.  
  
"I asked you a question! Are you going to answer it?"  
  
"No."  
  
The girl's mouth dropped open just when Buffy came in. The woman looked at the girl, then to Spike. "What's with her?"  
  
"She finally realized that I won't be answering every damn question that pops out of her mouth."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Buffy was going through rack after rack of clothing as Spike and Lydia watched. Colors and non-colors flew off shelves. Spike was slightly afraid. Aside from the fact that the mall was not his natural habitat, he was intrigued by the Slayer in hers. The mall was obviously her natural habitat, as she knew exactly what she was doing. They were only in their first store and this much was obvious. Lydia was holding onto his index finger and spinning around in circles as Spike watched the blond woman.  
  
"Daddy, I'm boo-reed," she sing-songed.  
  
"I'm sorry Sweet Bit, but I'm not any good at this shopping thing, why don't you go help Buffy?" he asked, looking down at her. In truth, he was becoming annoyed with the looks he was getting from some of the occupants of the mall. Friday night had been a bad idea. Friday night the mall was highly populated by teenagers. Teenage girls to be precise. He could feel, and see, the girls giving him lustful looks. Had they no shame? He was here with his daughter.  
  
"All right, but you have to see them when I try them on," she said as she stopped spinning.  
  
"Can do, Poppet." Then the little girl skipped off to Buffy, who slowed down slightly when Lydia handed her a blue jean jacket.  
  
"Hi!" Spike suppressed his rage and turned to the blond girl who stood next to him. She wasn't pretty blond like the Slayer, she was the ugly blond that came out of a bottle and was emphasized by too much make-up and a bad tan.  
  
"Hullo," he said gruffly.  
  
"That was so sweet of you, helping that little girl find her mom." Spike forced himself not to roll his eyes.  
  
"She's my daughter."  
  
"Oh," the minor smiles faintly and brushed badly manicured hands up the sleeves of his duster. Buffy must have sensed his distress, because suddenly she and Lydia were beside him.  
  
"Darling, we're going to the dressing rooms now," Buffy said, turning his face to her with her hand and then pulling him down as she went up. And then she was kissing him. Bloody fucking hell. The Slayer was kissing him and he was standing their like a fish on dry land. But before he had a chance to respond the kiss was over and the annoying blond girl was gone.  
  
"Agh... uh.." Spike the mute said.  
  
"Don't make a big deal out of it. I just wanted her gone." And then she turned away, taking Lydia's hand and leading her back to the changing rooms. Lydia was looking at him with wide eyes and then a big grin spread across her face.  
  
It wasn't until Lydia complained she was hungry that they stopped in the food court. Spike had never been in a food court, he'd never had a reason to before today, so he was slightly annoyed that there were even more teenagers here. Teenagers bugged the hell out of him. In fact, the only teenager that didn't bug the hell out of him was at the mall at this very moment, looking highly confused to see her sister and the vampire who hung around her house far too often there with a little girl.  
  
"Dawn's coming," Spike said as he stood in the line with Lydia and Buffy for pizza.  
  
"Oh," Buffy glanced behind her. "You get to explain Lydia."  
  
"Can't Lydia explain herself?" Spike asked as Dawn slid in-between two tables full of loud teenage boys. Damned, obnoxious teenagers.  
  
"Buffy, what are you doing here?" Dawn asked as she pushed past a group of mumbling young girls. "Better yet, why is Spike here and why is that little girl holding his hand?"  
  
"Long story Little Bit," Spike said, running a hand through his hair. Just then Dawn's companions, who had followed her about three seconds after she had left them, arrived.  
  
"Spike, who is she?"  
  
"My daughter," Spike said, narrowing his eyes at the girl who was quickly slipping from her position as the only teenager he could stand.  
  
Dawn stared. Then she turned and looked at her sister. Buffy shrugged. "Don't ask me, I didn't think he could have kids either."  
  
"Oh, she's adorable!" Oh, god. It was the bottled blond from the department store again. "So I guess Buffy isn't your wife," she said silkily.  
  
"No, Buffy--" a few sputters came out as Buffy slapped her hand over her younger sister's mouth.  
  
"He's my boyfriend. Very long time. That was nearly my daughter," Buffy rambled off. Dawn and Lydia gave the older girl a strange look, but wisely refrained from speaking.  
  
"Oh," the bottled blond said, removing her hand from Spike's bicep.  
  
"Dawn, you're curfew is eleven, you should get going," Buffy said, releasing her younger sister from her hold. The group left and Spike let out a mental breath.  
  
"Thank god you know how to think on your feet, Slayer. That bloody," this time his mouth was the one to have a hand slammed over it.  
  
"You can't talk like that in front of Lydia. She's going to be learning from you." Spike rolled his eyes and nodded reluctantly and then the hand was removed.  
  
"You're a very demanding person," Lydia said with a solemn face. Spike snickered as they moved up in the pizza line.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Spike was watching as his daughter and the woman he was thoroughly infatuated with stared one another down. If there had been a moment's doubt in Spike's mind that Lydia was not in fact his daughter, it was crushed beneath what had happened ten minutes before. They had been walking down one of the mall corridors when Lydia spotted a picture of a man on a motorcycle in a shop window.  
  
"Ohh! Daddy, Daddy, can we go in? Oh, please?" She jumped up and down, tugging on Spike's arm. "Please? Please? Please?"  
  
"All right," Spike laughed. She jumped up and then darted into the store which Spike had smelled from the other side of the mall. A leather shop. Lydia darted around, diving into coats and smelling them rather loudly. Buffy followed in, looking slightly reluctant until she found a leather jacket that was about her size. Spike was standing beside her, watching Lydia out of the corner of his eye when she suddenly darted up. For a human child, she was awfully swift.  
  
"Can I, Daddy? Please, please, please?"  
  
"Can you what, Poppet?" he asked, kneeling down beside her.  
  
She thrust the coat she was holding under his nose. "It's my size and it looks like yours!" Spike took the coat from her hands and looked up at Buffy, who was looking down at them thoughtfully.  
  
"I don't know, Lydia," the Slayer said reluctantly. "This place is really expensive."  
  
"Please," Lydia begged, flashing big green eyes at them.  
  
Spike could sense Buffy stealing herself. She was going to say no to the child. He should warn her that it was no good, that she was going to give in, because he hadn't even known Lydia for a full twenty-four hours and he already couldn't say no. But he didn't. He just kneeled there and watched the two stare at one another.  
  
"No," Buffy said carefully.  
  
"But I want it!" Lydia cried, eyes tearing. Oh, no. Spike felt his insides collapsing at the sight of the brimming eyes. This was bad. She wasn't supposed to cry, they'd already had this talk.  
  
"Now, Sweet Bit, what did we agree on when it came to crying?" Spike said, tilting her chin to look at him.  
  
"Crying doesn't do anything."  
  
"Right. There are very few occasions on which crying is acceptable. Getting what you want isn't one of them." The child nodded and wiped away the lone tear that had escaped. "Now, apologize to Buffy for making her feel bad," he said firmly.  
  
"I'm sorry, Buffy," Lydia said, hugging the woman around her middle. Buffy returned the hug and gave Spike a small smile. If he could just keep strong, then he just might be able to pull off this dad thing.  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	4. Saturday, Oh, Saturday

Sweet Bit  
  
Disclaimer - Chapter 1...that's all I'm going to say. Notes - Right now, I'm too tired to come up with something to put in the author note section so I'll settle for this: Author's Notes can sooo go to hell right now!  
  
~*~*~*~  
Ch 4 - Saturday, Oh Saturday  
10:23pm - Friday night  
  
Almost needless to say, Lydia ended up with that leather jacket she had wanted. Buffy hadn't exactally caved in, though. She had gone out of the store claiming to need to use the restroom and when she came back she found that Spike had bought the jacket while she was gone. Buffy should have known that giving him money earlier hadn't been a good idea. When the trio had gotten home, Lydia was passed out in the seat she had been previously sitting in. Now, however, she was half sitting, half lying down. To be honest, her position didn't look all that comfortable, but if it suited her, it was fine with them. After Buffy pulled into the driveway, Spike got out and took the small child out of the car. She had groaned in a tired manner, but she never actually awoke from her slumber. Spike, for one, was glad for this. He figured that at ten thirty, it would be hell trying to get her back to sleep if she were to wake up again.  
  
Spike carried her into the house and up to Dawn's room, where she was staying for now. He lay her down on the bed and stood there for a moment. She looked so sweet and adorable like that. He leaned down and kissed the girl on the forhead before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind him.  
  
About thirty minutes later, when Dawn walked in the front door, Spike decided that he should probably warn her. "Dawn,"  
  
The teenager turned to look at him, "Yeah?"  
  
"There's a small and...if awoken, possibly vicious child in your bed."  
  
Dawn frowned. She had stayed at a friend's house the night before. "I leave for one night, and look at everything that happens! You suddenly come up with a seven year old daughter and she is currently occupying my bed." She shook her head, "I should stick around more. Weird things happen when I'm gone." She muttered as she made her way up the stairs.  
  
~*~*~*~  
2:38am - Early Saturday Morning  
  
Lydia had awoken in a strange place. Well, it wasn't really that strange; she had slept here last night. However, it took her a few minutes to realize just where she was. After this was done, she was suddenly encountered with the memory of the dream that had awoken her. She had been with her mom and dad in the dream. Then, they disappeared. That was really all that she could remember. Her parents had been there and gone, and in an instant, she was standing there, in the vision of her mind, all alone and lost.  
  
She could feel the tears coming to her eyes. This was actually really uncharacteristic for her. She had cried about three times since she had gotten here. She figured it was the fact that she was missing her mommy and daddy. Or...the daddy that she thought knew since she was technically with her father. She let the tears slide down her cheeks but she wasn't going to stay in here for any longer. She threw the blanket back off of her and slid out of the bed. She walked towards the door, but not without stepping on someone else that was in the room. Lydia had almost screamed at the somewhat loud, "Ow!" that had seemingly come from the floor, but she withheld the urge. She leaned down and saw that it was the girl from the mall earlier. "Sorry..." She whispered and continued on her journey to exit the room.  
  
Dawn rubbed her hand, which the child had stepped on. "Couldn't she see that someone was trying to sleep here?" Then she realized something. "My bed! It's kid-free!" With that, the teen girl got up and practically jumped into her bed, thankful for not having to sleep on the floor anymore.  
  
Lydia slowly and blindly made her way towards her destination. She finally reached the end of the hallway and realized that this was going to take forever. She had to get down the stairs now. Then, she would have to find the door to the basement and go down those stairs. At least the stairs that led from the first story of the house to the second had a bit of moonlight shining in on them. The basement stairs wouldn't have any light for her at all. She sighed and continued her way slowly descending the stairs.  
  
Lydia was glad to find that she made it down the first flight of stairs that she had to get down with success. As she drew nearer to the basement door, she groaned inwardly and decided how she would get down the next set of steps safely. When she finally reached the door to the basement, she opened the door and got down on her knees. She felt around for the first step and sat down. She slowly scooted her way down, so as not to fall, trip, wake her father and end up with a broken neck. It took a few minutes, but Lydia finally got to the bottom of the stairs and she felt her feet touch the cold concrete. Before actually getting to the point of standing, she drew her feet back for a moment. Lydia finally rolled her eyes at herself and took charge of her situation. She stood up, on the freezing concrete and ran as quickly as she could to her father's bed. She had to figure out which side he was on before she climbed into the bed. She nodded when she figured it out and climbed into the bed on the side he was on. Spike was more or less actually towards the center of the bed, but Lydia climbed into the bed on the side which he was facing.  
  
Spike was beginning to wonder if being a light sleeper was such a good thing after all. He felt something moving next to him and couldn't help but let his curiosity to get to him. He slowly opened his eyes and let the adjust to the darkness. This didn't take long, and he quickly saw the small figure that lay next to him. How long had she been there? He figured not long, but he could actually have been wrong, though since he was such a light sleeper, he doubted this. Spike wondered if she were awake when he heard something. That something sounded an awful lot like a sniff of someone who had been crying. There were a few times when Spike could almost swear that this girl was not his child. However, then he would remember that she was only seven years old. "Lydia?" He whispered, so as to not wake her if she was asleep.  
  
"Daddy? Did I wake you up?"  
  
"No, pet, I was already awake." He lied. Actually he'd been having a pretty good dream before she climbed into bed with him.  
  
"Oh." She said simply, quickly wiping the tears that were pouring from her eyes away. Lydia soon found that this was a very useless thing to do. The tears she would brush away would only be replaced by fresh ones. "Daddy...I know you said that...that crying doesn't..." She sniffed, "Doesn't get us anywhere but...but..." She let out a sound that wasn't far from a whimper. "Daddy, is was bad! It was really bad!" The child said, crying into the sheet that she had wrapped around herself.  
  
Spike frowned. What the hell was the kid going on about? "What was so horrible, luv?"  
  
Lydia sniffed a few times and tried to stop her tears in another futile attempt before saying, "The...the dream..."  
  
Spike had thought that her saying anything at all would have clarified things. This statement actually managed to confuse him even more. "What dream?"  
  
"The one I just had."  
  
"What happened in your dream, pet?" Spike asked, sitting up. He pulled her into his lap.  
  
"Me, and you, and mummy were all standing there. Then...mommy disappeared, just...poof! And she was gone. Then...the same thing happened again, but it was you instead of mummy. And...then...I was left all alone...and confused...and...and..." That was all she managed before she lay her head on her father's chest, letting the tears come still. "I know...that I'm not supposed to cry but...daddy...it was mean and unpleasant and...I don't think I could take that...being all alone and everything...it's just..." She didn't finish her sentence.  
  
Spike sat there in silence for a moment. He closed his eyes and pulled the girl closer to him. He knew that he had told her before that crying got you nowhere, but how could you tell a child to not cry after they dreamed that their mother and father just disappeared suddenly? Spike didn't know if other people--parents, actually--could do this, but he knew he wasn't about to tell his seven year old daughter that she wasn't supposed to cry over the dream. "Lydia..."  
  
She looked up at him, her cheeks tear-stained now. "Hmm?"  
  
"You know it was just a dream, right?"  
  
She shook her head a little. "Not really...It kind of happened like that..." She muttered, but suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to know.  
  
"What?" Spike frowned. Had the child gone nuts?  
  
She shook her head again, "Nothing..."  
  
"Alright..."  
  
After a few moments of silence between the two, Lydia declared that she was tired and she climbed out of her father's lap, getting next to him in the bed. Spike didn't think she had gone to sleep just yet and decided that he couldn't stand it any longer. He just had to ask her. "What's your mother's name, pet?" There was no answer and Spike knew that Lydia had fallen asleep. She really had been tired. He smiled and lay down himself. "Good night, Sweet Bit." He muttered into the child's hair as her kissed her on top of the head before closing his eyes and hoping for a quick slumber to engulf him soon.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
6:08am - Saturday Morning  
  
Lydia had been lying in the bed for a few minutes, fully awake. She had been trying to figure out what she was going to do. At first, going back to sleep seemed like a good thing, but she found that this would take too long for her liking. So she had been lying there for about ten minutes. She sighed and sat up, looking around the basement-room. She grinned when she saw the television set that was on the wall opposite the bed. She hopped off the bed and ran over to the tv, turning it on and flipping the channels until she found whatever it was she was looking for. She stood there for a moment, checking the volume. She shook her head. It wasn't loud enough, so she turned it up a bit. It would have been a bit, had she not accidentally turn the volume dial a little far. She clapped her hands over her ears for a few minutes before realizing that it would be she who had to turn it down. She did this quickly, but she only turned it down to the point of it not completely blaring, however, it was still fairly loud. She grinned and ran back to the bed, climbing up and jumping up and down on the bed. "Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! Wake up!"  
  
Spike groaned but didn't actually show signs of being awake.  
  
"Daaadddy! Wake UP!" Lydia shouted, leaning down towards her father's ear.  
  
Spike sat up immediately, due to the extremely loud sound in his ear. "What the bloody hell?"  
  
"Didn't Buffy say that you couldn't talk like that?" Lydia asked, sitting on her knees with her head tilted slightly to the side.  
  
"What--Oh. Right. Forgot about that. And to be honest, I kind of forgot you were in here. Wait...why were you yelling in my ear?"  
  
"Be-caaaause! You wouldn't wake up! I had to get you up somehow, didn't I?" Lydia rolled her eyes.  
  
"But...why did I need to get up, it's--" He glanced at the clock that was on the bedside table, "Six in the damn morning, child!"  
  
"So?" Lydia asked indignantly. After a moment's pause, she repeated what she had said only moments ago. "Wait...I thought you weren't supposed to talk like that." Now she sounded confused.  
  
Spike shook his head. "Lydia...luv, why did you wake me up at six in the morning?"  
  
"It's Saturday." She said simply, as if he should know why otherwise.  
  
Spike frowned. "I thought that you were supposed to sleep in on the weekends."  
  
"No, silly! You get up early!"  
  
"But...why?"  
  
Lydia rolled her eyes. "You're really bad at this parenting thing. Saturday equals Saturday Morning Cartoons, duh!"  
  
"Right...of course." Spike fell back onto the pillow, hoping the girl would let him lay there and "watch" the cartoons.  
  
"I don't think so, mister! You've gotta sit up, or you'll be falling asleep in the middle of everything. Then you won't understand anything."  
  
"I'm not going to understand anything anyway, sweetie."  
  
"Yes you will. I'm going to explain the basics of all the shows in the comercials." She beamed up at her now sitting up father.  
  
"Great." Spike managed through clentched teeth.  
  
~*~*~*~  
10:00am - Late Saturday Morning  
  
Spike couldn't believe that he had actually managed to bear through it all. He had actually handled four hours of cartoons. Four hours, that was, of actually spending time alone with his daughter--Or at least that's how he tried to look at it. He was still trying to understand how he had sat through four hours of bad dubbing and annoying little high pitched voices. Maybe he would never understand it, but he really hoped he would have to do it again. Spike had the feeling that he was going to have to do this every weekend. This sucked. Saturdays used to be cool, now...they would suck! Life has a funny sense of humor, you know?  
  
Lydia had gone upstairs to get something to eat for breakfast when the cartoons had ended. Spike heard the door open as well as someone coming down the stairs very slowly and carefully. He soon saw the small form of his daughter with a paper plate which had what looked like two slices of chocolate cake on it. She was holding the plate with both hands and walking down the stairs very slowly, so as to not drop it. She finally got over to the bed and set the plate down. "Breakfast?" She asked, grinning.  
  
Spike couldn't help but laugh. The child was absolutely priceless. "Who gave you the cake?"  
  
"Some guy...I think he said his name waaaassss....um...." The little girl's eyes darted from left to right as if she were physically searching her brain for the guy's name. "Xander!" She shouted, nodding. "Yeah...that was it."  
  
Spike rose an eyebrow. What the hell was he doing here? Spike shrugged and watched Lydia as she climbed up on the bed once more. After she had gotten situated, the plate between the two, Lydia looked up at her father. "Are you going to eat any of it?"  
  
"I'm actually not all that hungry, pet."  
  
"Oh." Even though it was only over a piece of cake, the child seemed quite crestfallen.  
  
It was almost as if she had been hoping to please her father coming back with cake and all. Spike was a little surprised when he looked back that he picked up on the girl's disappointment as quickly as he did, but he quickly said, "Then again...." All whilst looking at the cake.  
  
Lydia brightened slightly. "You're going to eat it?"  
  
Spike nodded. "Yeah...I am."  
  
"Were you lyyying before when you said you weren't hungry?" Lydia sing- songed the one single word.  
  
"No...no, I wasn't lying. I really wasn't hungry, but then..."  
  
"You saw me eating and you got hungry?" The seven year old suggested.  
  
Spike nodded, "Yeah, something like that."  
  
~*~*~*~  
2:08pm - Saturday Afternoon  
  
Lydia had gone upstairs for awhile and played dolls with Dawn. It was almost like Dawn had been wanting an excuse to pull the old dolls out and play with them again. So, Dawn hadn't been totally grudging and hating playing with girl. Lydia put the doll she had in her hand down.  
  
"What's wrong?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Is there anyone else that could play with us, Dawn?"  
  
"Not unless you can get your dad to play. Everyone else is gone right now."  
  
"Oh." After a moment, she picked up her doll, a few random accessories, and grabbed Dawn's hand. "Come on, let's go downstais."  
  
Dawn greabbed the doll that had been lying next to her and allowed the girl to pull her along. "I realy don't think that your dad is going to play dolls, Lydia."  
  
"We'll see." She said, grinning as she looked over her shoulder at the older girl.  
  
The pair loudly made their way down the stairs that lead to the basement. They were equally shocked when they didn't see Spike. Lydia shrugged and the girls sat on the floor and continued their game. The two girls had only just started playing again when Spike appeared. Where exactly that he had come from or previously been, they didn't know, or care. "Hi, daddy!" Lydia waved a bit at the man.  
  
Spike could hardly believe what he was seeing. "Lydia, what are you doing?"  
  
"Playing dolls, silly. Can't you tell?" She motioned towards the dolls she and don had in their hands as well as the car and a few other things they had brought down with them.  
  
"Yes...I can see that's what you're doing, pet, but I can't understand why?"  
  
"Because I wanted to and Dawn said that she'd play with me."  
  
Dawn looked at Spike very seriously and said, "Just because the girl has a leather jacket, doesn't mean she can't play dolls."  
  
"If I had anything to do with it--"  
  
Dawn cut him off, "But ou don't. Plus, she's a seven year old girl!"  
  
"Yes, but if I did have anything to do with this--"  
  
"But you don't, so there's no use in thinking about what you would do under different circumstances." Dawn was not backing off of this one. She was determined to win this time.  
  
"Fine, but there won't be anythign else that she does that I can't control." He then preceeded to mutter to himself, "I'll make sure of that."  
  
Lydia looked at Spike, then to Dawn, and back to her father again. "Can you two please stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room?" She asked in a manner that only a young child could.  
  
"Sorry, Lydia." Dawn said appologetically.  
  
The platinum blond man kneeled down next to his daughter and ruffled her hair. "Won't happen again, Sweet Bit." Spike said, glancing at Dawn, almost as if he were trying to one-up her.  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	5. Slight Problems With Authority

Sweet Bit  
  
Disclaimer - Chapter 1...see that one, dammit! Notes - none  
  
~*~*~*~  
Ch 5 - Slight Problems With Authority  
9:00pm - Wednesday Night  
  
Buffy was getting tired of this. She and Lydia had been at this for nearly an hour now. All she had wanted the child to do was pick up her toys and go get ready for bed. This did not seem to be what Lydia had planned. "Lydia, Please...just pick up your toys and get ready for bed." She had been doing this for an hour with a headache, the Slayer had reason enough to resort to begging the kid for this.  
  
Lydia was annoyed by the woman in front of her. She had been standing her ground for an hour and wasn't about to give up now. Lydia had noticed that Buffy was in the same thought process as she was, seeing that the blond had yet to give up as well. The young girl had figured out early on that they were going to be here for awhile. "No! I don't want to go to sleep! I'm not even tired!" She shouted.  
  
"I don't care if you're tired or not. It's late, Lydia. You need to go to bed."  
  
"I don't wanna!" The child yelled again.  
  
Buffy would have simply picked her up if the child didn't bite, kick, slap, punch, or try to find other means of trying to inflict bodily pain to her. At one point, the little brat even resorted to screaming. Buffy couldn't have that. No, she couldn't have the neighbors calling the police or something just as drastic. The blond woman looked over at Spike, "Are you going to help me out here at all?"  
  
Spike had been watching the two go at it for quite some time. To be honest, he knew he should have stopped it, but it had just been too damn amusing. "Come here, sweets."  
  
Lydia ran over to her father, who was sitting on the couch, and climbed up into his lap, glad to get away from The Evil Blond Woman. "Yeeesss, daddy?"  
  
Spike smiled slightly. He was stilly trying to get used to this whole being a father thing. "Can you do something for me?"  
  
"I duunnoo." She sing-songed. No wonder the child didn't want to sleep; she was too hyper. Maybe Spike should watch Willow a little closer when she had chocolate and Lydia in the same room. "Can you put your toys away?"  
  
She nodded, "Uh-huuuh..."  
  
"And can you go get ready for bed when you're finished with that?" Spike asked, knowing he had this in the bag. Game. Set. Match. He thought.  
  
"I'm not tiiiired, daddy!"  
  
Or not. Spike looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tell you what, sweets," he said, repositioning her on hsi knees, "If you pick up your toys and go get ready for bed...I'll get you a pair of those boots you wanted. In fact, I'll get the for you tomorrow."  
  
When they had been at the mall on Friday, Lydia had seen a pair of black combat boots and asked for them. This, however, had come after the leather jacket and Spike even managed to tell her no. He hadn't liked it--to be honest he had hated seeing the look on the child's face when he told her no- -but he had done it. When her father told her what he just had, her green eyes lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree, "Really?"  
  
Spike nodded. "Yeah. I'll go out tomorrow night and get them for you myself."  
  
Oh, thank you, daddy!" She threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! And, yes, I'll pick up my toys, get ready for bed and go to sleep really fast!" She separated herself from her father and jumped down, picking the toys up as quickly as she could. As she ran up the stairs, she stopped and looked at her father, "Don't forget to come tuck me in, daddy!" And with that, she went on.  
  
Once the seven year old ran out of the room and upstairs to get ready for bed, Buffy slowly made her way to sit in the chair that sat opposite the couch. "You are going to spoil that child so much." She said slowly, shaking her head a little.  
  
"So, she's my daughter. I'm allowed to spoil her, aren't I?"  
  
"Yes. Some, but you got her a leather jacket Friday and now you're going to get her matching boots? You are insane, Spike."  
  
"Thanks, I try. Anyway, who are you to talk? It didn't look like you were getting too far to me. You two had been standing in the same places, arguing, for nearly an hour."  
  
"She's going to get used to this, Spike. This is not a smart idea. Lydia is going to start expecting you to just go out and get her things if you keep this up."  
  
"Well, then, she'll learn how to deal with life not being fair early one, won't she? The sooner, the better, I'd say."  
  
"Spoil her all you want, but this is not a good idea." Buffy got up to make her way to her room. "Especially when she lives on the hellmouth." She muttered.  
  
"What?" Spike frowned, confused by the Slayer's mutters.  
  
Buffy just rolled her eyes and continued towards the stairs.  
  
Spike fell back into the couch. "Women."  
  
~*~*~*~  
8:35pm - Thursday Night  
  
It had taken some convincing, but Spike had finally been able to con Willow into driving him to the mall, seeing as how he didn't know the way there. His first choice had obviously been Buffy, but she said that she wasn't going to aid him in spoiling his daughter so, he went to Willow. After the first initial two hours of asking, Spike figured that the girl just said and did as she said so he would shut up. He was currently in the store that Lydia had seen the boots in. He had picked a pair of them up and was slowly making his way towards the counter to pay for the shoes. He set them on the counter top and started to take out his wallet.  
  
"These don't look to be your size, sir." The girl behind the desk said, joking, of course.  
  
Spike resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The way the people tried to start conversation could be really annoying. Instead of rolling his eyes or letting a snide comment pass over his lips, Spike surprised even himself when he spoke. "They're for my daughter."  
  
"Getting her started in the leather early on, are you? She can't be too old, now, can she?"  
  
"No...she's seven...she's great...Beautiful girl...green eyes, light brown hair....so adorable."  
  
"Aww...she sounds so cute..." The girl behind the counter gushed. "Do you have a picture of her?"  
  
"Not...a recent one." Spike lied.  
  
"I always think it's sweet when father's are so proud of their daughter's." The girl continued in her gushing.  
  
"It's different when you've only found that you have one." Spike didn't realize he'd muttered this.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing." Spike said quickly. "Just...talking to myself."  
  
"Oh. So, is she sweet?"  
  
"Yeah...definitely sweet." After a moment, he said, "I think you should ring the shoes up."  
  
"Oh, right. Sorry...I just get really caught up when people talk about their children." She smiled a small smile and rung the shoes up, telling him the price.  
  
Spike payed for the shoes and muttered a thanks before leaving.  
  
~*~*~*~  
9:18pm - Thursday Night  
  
Willow dropped Spike off at Buffy's and told him to tell the blond girl that she was just going to go home. He nodded and went on towards the house as the red head backed out of the driveway. Spike opened the door to the Summer's house and was surprised to find that he could actually enter without any problem. "Slayer, what's wrong with this picture?"  
  
"You mean...the fact that you just came into the house, no problem whatsoever?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"When Willow picked you up and all, she kind of took that away. I mean, your kind of living here and all now."  
  
"Where's Lydia?" He asked almost sounding impatient.  
  
"Oh....Spike...please, for heaven's sake, don't wake her up. She's on the couch, out cold...has been almost since you left. I think she might be getting sick or something."  
  
"Oh, Christ. I forgot, humans get sick."  
  
"Yeah, it's a drawback. However, kids usually get sick...a lot."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"But, then again, maybe she was just tired." Buffy shrugged. "Either way, she's asleep and I hope you aren't thinking about waking her up." She said as she followed him into the living room.  
  
Spike titled his head to the side as he looked at the small child that was only a few feet from him on the couch. She look so peaceful and angelic laying there. He shook his head to what Buffy had said. "There's no way I could wake her up, Buffy."  
  
Buffy shook her head a little but stopped not long after she had started, a smile spreading over her face. It was just strange, the way Spike was with Lydia. It was sweet, but it just didn't seem like him sometimes. Then, at other times, it seemed so much like him that it kind of creeped her out. Maybe there's still some William in you, Spike. She thought.  
  
Spike had set the bag with the shoes in it in the chair as he had made his way over to the couch. He kneeled down to his haunches and simply watched the girl in front of him. She was just too adorable. He gingerly slid a piece of her light blond hair out of her face. He smiled. He couldn't believe that this girl was his daughter. If anyone had told him three weeks ago that he had a daughter, he would have looked at them as if they were insane and laughed, claiming that he'd been a vampire for far too long to be able to have a daughter. Now, however, it was almost as if he had known of her for her whole seven years of life--except for the small little exclusion that he'd only known her for about two weeks. He smiled again. He was starting to wonder if he would ever get over this initial affection that he had for her. He knew that it would be there for as long as she was here, but Spike was wondering if the overwhelming feeling of it all would be there every time he looked at her for that long. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before getting up. Spike had planned on turning and going downstairs, however, he stood there for a few more minutes.  
  
Buffy watched Spike watch his daughter sleep. She couldn't help but smile slightly. She slowly walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Cute, isn't she?"  
  
Spike nodded in agreement, "She's absolutely adorable."  
  
"Well...I'm going to bed...I'm bit tired myself." Buffy said, turning to leave the room.  
  
"Buffy, wait."  
  
She turned slightly, "What is it?"  
  
"Have you ever noticed..." Spike hesitated slightly before finishing his question, "How much she looks like you?"  
  
Now she had to know what he was talking about. She turned all the way back around and walked over to stand next to him again. She titled her head slightly as she looked at the girl there on the couch. She nodded. "She does kind of look like me. That's odd...isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah...uncanny really. I could almost say that she was your child as well."  
  
"You could..." Buffy agreed, nodding, "She really does favor you, too, though."  
  
"But...Buffy...if she favors you and I, do you think--" He slowly turned his head to look down at the beautiful blond standing next to him.  
  
Buffy saw where he was going with this. She shook her head. "No...No...I don't think so. I mean...you could always...ask her who her mom was--er-is-- or....whatever, right? I mean, she's your daughter, you have a right to know...right?"  
  
Spike shrugged, "I don't know. I just confused about this." He sighed.  
  
"Well, I'm really going to go to bed this time." Buffy smiled a little and without realizing what she was doing before she had done it, she reached up and kissed Spike on the cheek. Buffy immediately turned away and went upstairs.  
  
Spike sighed again. "I think you missed my lips, Slayer." He muttered.  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	6. The Very Confusing Truth

Sweet Bit  
  
Disclaimer - Chapter 1...see that one, dammit! Notes - I tend to like writing things that happen in the early morning...lol  
  
Ch 6 - The Very Confusing Truth  
4:53am - Early Friday Morning  
  
Spike was starting to wonder about his daughter and her sanity. She had come down nearly an hour ago and climbed into bed with him, crying. He was also beginning to wonder if she listened to anything he said. Hadn't they had the talk about crying already? Yes, actually, about twice now. Spike was sitting up, Lydia in his lap. He had his arms around her and she was leaning over onto his chest. They had been like this for about ten minutes now, silence filling the room except for the occasional sniff from the little girl. Now all Spike had to do was get her to tell him what the hell it was that she was crying about. "Lydia..." Spike whispered.  
  
Lydia lifted her head, "Yeah, daddy?" She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times.  
  
Spike smiled a little. She was tired, he could tell, but she was either too determined to not fall asleep or the crying that she had been doing was keeping her up. "Mind telling me what you've been crying about for an hour for?"  
  
She bit her lower lip, wondering if she should really tell him. However, being seven, even if she was an exceptional seven year old, Lydia didn't focus on this for long. "I want my mummy...and my daddy...or...the daddy I know...and I want my Auntie!"  
  
Spike decided that since the child had brought it up, he would ask her now. "Who...is your mother, sweets?"  
  
Lydia opened her mouth, as if to speak, but stopped herself. Maybe this was a bad idea, telling him. She wasn't sure if he should know, or if she should tell him right now, or ever. Maybe she should just let him continue on like this until he found her Mum. That seemed like a good idea to her. She nodded at her thoughts. "I don't know her name...she's just mummy!"  
  
"Oh...Well, who's your Aunt?"  
  
Lydia had to think about this. How was she going to get out of this one? She couldn't say she didn't know her name, is was part of the title, but she couldn't let him know, not right now. It was too early to let him know about it all. "Daddy...." She whined.  
  
"Yes, luv?"  
  
"I'm tiiired...."  
  
"You want to go to sleep, sweets?"  
  
She nodded slowly. "Please?"  
  
It was Spike's turn to nod. "Alright. You going to Dawn's room?"  
  
"Do I have to?" She asked in a languid tone.  
  
"No, but that's where you're supposed to be staying."  
  
"Ok..." She said souding disappointed now as she started to climb down off the bed. Before she had scooted off the edge of the bed, Spike caught her by the shoulers. "That's not what I meant, Sweet Bit."  
  
"It's what you said." She stated, looking over her shoulder at her father.  
  
She almost had him there, that is what he said, however, he was used to people understanding what came out of his mouth. He really had to remember that, though she acted smarter and knew more big words than most seven year olds do, Lydia was only seven. "I know, but...it's not what I meant."  
  
"Well...what'd ya mean, then?"  
  
"I was just saying that Dawn's room was where you were usually sleeping, I didn't mean you couldn't stay." He knew he should stop being a sucker for the kid's crestfallen face, but he couldn't help it. It killed him to see her sad, disappointed, crying or anything of that nature. Spike shook his head as he thought about how ironic this was. He couldn't believe how he acted when he was around this kid.  
  
"So...I can stay?" Lydia asked tentatively, hoping that this was what he was saying. She knew what he was and what he wasn't, but this didn't matter to her; she really wanted to be with her father right now.  
  
He nodded, "Yeah...you can stay."  
  
She smiled and crawled back over to him, laying down on her side next to him. "G'night, daddy."  
  
"Good night, pet."  
  
Not much time had passed and Spike knew that Lydia was asleep. He could tell from the slow, rhythmic breathing. He knew it was going to be awhile until he drifted off. Spike was mulling the new information that Lydia had let slip. It really didn't make much sense to be honest. Not being the daddy she wanted and wanting her mum...and the ever-mysterious Aunt that had sent her here. Spike was starting to question some of the things Lydia had told him. He tried to put the pieces together, but the pieces of this puzzle didn't fit. It was kind of like someone had taken four puzzles of similar color and whatnot and threw some of the pieces and he'd ended up with nothing that was the same.  
  
She wants her mum...Well, I can't very well give her or take her to her mum if I don't know who she is, now can I? For some reason, something suddenly struck him as a bit odd. The first night she was here...didn't she call Buffy her...future mummy? Now this just confused the man even more. Wait...how... He shook his head. That simply has to be what I told Buffy; She's seven, I told her all that and she made the connections, thinking that something could actually happen. Spike shook his head and smiled. Sorry, sweets, but that won't ever happen. The Slayer is a bit too stubborn for that. He shrugged, "Don't want her to change, though...I like her just the way she is." He muttered before actually drifting off to dreams of the ever-present blond beauty and the relationship that he knew would never happen.  
  
8:00am - Friday Morning  
  
Buffy sighed when she entered the kitchen. Where the hell was Willow? She wanted to know how her baby was doing. She rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup of coffee and slowly started to sip it.  
  
"I really hope that coffee isn't to Buffy as candy is to a child..." Xander said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, "Because if it is...you are going to be very hyper. That's something like your sixth cup, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah...something like that."  
  
"Did you plan on drinking the entire pot of coffee on your own?" She shrugged, "I don't know, Xander. I just want Will to hurry up. She said she'd be here and she's not. She's the only way I can know how Lydia is doing."  
  
"Ya know, I'm kind of starting to miss that girl."  
  
"It's not like she could have stayed or anything."  
  
"Of course not. Not with everything going on right now."  
  
Buffy was about to respond when the door flew open, revealing a very annoyed Willow. "Oi!" Was the only thing Buffy or Xander could make out.  
  
"Will! Finally, what took so long?"  
  
"I didn't think it was possible for so much traffic to build at eight in the morning. Apparently, someone had an accident and the traffic was horrible!" She shrugged, "I just got my stuff, shoved it in my bag and walked here."  
  
"Why didn't you call? We could have come and picked you up."  
  
Willow looked a little confused, "Well...I guess I just didn't think about it."  
  
"Well, let's get to it. I wanna know how my baby's doing."  
  
Willow nodded and started digging through her bag.  
  
"Is red finally here?" A heavy british accent asked.  
  
"Yes, Spike, Willow's here."  
  
"Well she better do whatever it is she has to do down here! I want to know how my daughter's doing!" He yelled.  
  
Willow and Buffy both rolled their eyes, but the two women, as well as Xander walked down to the basement.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Spike asked, giving Xander an odd look.  
  
Xander frowned, "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure."  
  
"Right..."  
  
As Willow dug through her bag and got everything out, she had an idea. "Oh, no! I can't believe I left that cloth at my house!" She exclaimed.  
  
"WHAT?" Buffy and Spike both shouted.  
  
"I can't believe I left it! I made a check-list and everything!" Willow had become quite the actress over the years. She just loved seeing those two squirm and took advantage of making it happen whenever the opportunity arose.  
  
"Willow! Are you serious?" Buffy asked.  
  
Willow shook her head, "No. You guys are so gullible."  
  
"Why's that?" Spike asked.  
  
"No reason really, other than the fact that the cloth I was speaking of it right here." She held it up.  
  
"Oh." Buffy and Spike chorused.  
  
"Yeah. I just like seeing you two flip out. It's fun." She grinned and set everything up the way she needed to in order to perform the spell.  
  
When the spell was complete, there was a place in the center of the cloth on the floor that looked similar to a puddle of water. The rest was simply like watching TV.  
  
"Daddy! Wake up!" Little Lydia was bouncing up and down on her father's bed.  
  
"I can't believe she's calling him daddy!" Spike yelled.  
  
"I told her to, you moron. They aren't supposed to know about you yet." Willow said.  
  
"Right, I knew that."  
  
"Lydia...why must you always wake me up so early?"  
  
"Because..." She said, exasperated, "It gets boring being all alone!" She grinned.  
  
"Right...of course..."  
  
"He's such a git!  
  
"Spike, hun, that's you...about eight or nine years ago." Buffy raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"I know...but I was such a git, then!"  
  
"You also didn't have a daughter then." Xander put it.  
  
"Shut it, would you?"  
  
"Daddy...where's my jacket?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"My leather jacket that you got me that one day when we were at the mall with mu--I mean...Buffy. Where is it?"  
  
"Well, I don't know! What did you do with it?"  
  
"I gave it to you." She said, simply.  
  
"Oh...you did, didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"What were you going to say earlier?"  
  
"Hmm?" She titled her head in confusion. "You were about to say something...then you corrected yourself and said Buffy. What was it you were going to say?"  
  
"You're a silly man. I wasn't saying anything!" She laughed.  
  
"Hey, Will, didn't you say there was a way to talk to them or something?? Buffy asked  
  
"Well...I was just thinking that...they could kind of use some kind of explanation."  
  
"I'd have to contact myself and walk me through it in order for them to talk to us."  
  
"Oh. you do that?"  
  
"It'll take awhile, but yeah, if you want me to."  
  
She sighed, "Alright, then. TV time is over."  
  
Lydia had been sitting in the living room watching TV when she heard something. It was her Mom's voice, but it was like she was in her head. "Mummy?" She whispered, slightly confused as to where her mother's voice was coming from.  
  
"Lydia, darling. Hello."  
  
"Mummy...where are you?" She asked, looking around to find her mum.  
  
"I'm at home but...my voice is kind of in your head."  
  
"I noticed. How is your voice in my head?"  
  
"Aunt Willow did a special little something."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Lydia, Sweet Bit,"  
  
Before the Spike in her head could continue, Lydia squealed, "Daddy!"  
  
"What is it, Lydia?"  
  
She giggled, "Nothing, daddy!" She continued to talk to the voices in her head in a whisper. "What's goin on?"  
  
"What do you mean, sweets?"  
  
"Why did Aunt Willow have to have you guys get in my head?"  
  
"Well, honey, we needed to talk to you." Buffy said.   
  
"Yes, we needed you to do something for us, luv."  
  
"Oh. Well...what is it?"  
  
"Frankly, luv, we need you to tell the others why you're there."  
  
"But why? You, and Uncle Xander, and mummy, and Aunt Willow and Aunt Anya and everyone insisted so much on me not telling anyone before I left!"  
  
"Yes, but, honey, your going to be able to come home soon and...well, to be honest, you've been letting things--small things--slip lately and you've confused them." Buffy said.  
  
"Especially me...well...the other me...er...uh..."  
  
"I get what you mean, daddy."  
  
"Good, because I'm not sure that he could explain it to you." Buffy teased him.  
  
"What are you talking about? She's always been an exceptional child."  
  
"Of course she has, think of her parents and who her 'uncle' and 'aunts' are, darling."  
  
"Mummy....daddy...get on with it, what do you want me to tell them?"  
  
"Just tell them that they all need to be down in the basement by six o'clock tonight. Then, they need to wait. We'll deal with the rest." The child's mother told her  
  
"Oh...ok...but...what if they ask me why?"  
  
"Tell them it's a game you want to play or something."  
  
She shrugged, "Alright. Are you going to be out of my head, now?"  
  
"Yes, Sweet Bit, we can't have them thinking your insane or something." Spike's voice said.  
  
"Talk to you in a little while, sweetie." Buffy's voice said before they were both gone.  
  
"Mummy? Daddy?" Lyda was checking to see if the voices were still there. "Ok...good, they're gone." She sighed.  
  
By six o'clock, Buffy, Spike, Willow, and Lydia were all down in the basement. The two adults were still completely clueless as to why they were there; Willow had a vague idea, since her other self had contacted her and walked her through the steps of everything; And Lydia, of course, knew only what her mother and father had told her. Willow shrugged at the bewildered looks that she was getting from Spike and Buffy and set everything up. The spell only took a few minutes, and it was done.  
  
"The other me? The...old me? You there?" Willow's voice, as well as the rest of her, came from the small place near the center of the cloth."  
  
"Yep! We're all here, see?" She motioned for the others to lean in. She grinned at her future self.  
  
"Good. We're all here, too." Willow said as Spike and Buffy waved at Lydia. Lydia said nothing, but waved furiously at the mirrored Spike and Buffy.  
  
"Ok...what's the big deal? They're mirror-versions of us." Buffy said, confused.  
  
"Ok...see...we have a lot of explaining to do." Buffy in the puddle of water said with a sigh.  
  
"Obviously...why are you two standing so close together?" Spike asked his mirror-self.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes, "Good LORD, isn't it obvious?"  
  
"Well, no, obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking!"  
  
"Remind me why I was such a git, darling."  
  
"To be honest, I don't know. It was just the way you were."   
  
"Darling?" Buffy and Spike chorused.  
  
"Yes, darling." Mirror-Buffy and Spike said.  
  
"Why?" Spike asked.  
  
Spike sighed. "We're gonna be here for awhile...get comfy."  
  
Everyone did just that; Lydia sat in Willow's lap, looking at her future aunt and waving with a big grin on her face; Spike and Buffy sat on either side of Willow. "Alright, we're all ready." Willow said, looking at her future self.  
  
The three mirrored ones looked around at each other. "How do we explain all of this?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I'd say a short synopsis would be best." Spike nodded.  
  
"But how we prevent extreme confusion?" Willow had a 'You guys know I'm going to be right, so just stop talking now' kind of look on her face.  
  
"I like that me. She's cool...kinda bossy with her looks, but that's ok." Willow said, pointing at her other self.  
  
Lydia looked at the physical people around her and down at the people in front of them all. She sighed, "Can I try and explain for lack of sitting here for three hours?"  
  
"Go on, Sweet Bit, give it a shot."  
  
Lydia nodded and stood up, standing on the other side of the cloth and puddle-like section. She put her hands behind her back and looked at the three adults in front of her. "Ok...Those three...aren't technically you." She motioned to the puddle. "I mean...I guess they are really...but...oh! You aren't them...or...not yet."  
  
"What?" Buffy asked, eyebrows raised.  
  
"See...that's mummy and daddy, and Auntie!" She shouted, pointing at the ones in the puddle. She looked at the physical forms, "See...they," Lydia motioned to the puddle, "Are you," She pointed at the three others in front of her, "In the future."  
  
"What?" Spike asked.  
  
Lydia sighed, already exasperated. "The three people in the puddle and the future forms of you, Buffy, and Willow, silly daddy."  
  
"I still don't like that she's calling him daddy." Future-Spike said.  
  
"Well, we couldn't tell her to call him Spike when she'd been calling you daddy all the time." Puddle-Willow said, "It was hard enough to get across that she could not, under any circumstances, call that Buffy by any form of mother."  
  
"Will has a point, honey. "  
  
"It doesn't make me like it any more than I did before you went into all of that." He muttered, to which the two women simply rolled their eyes.  
  
"Do you guys get it?" Lydia asked, hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, but...why did the future me send you here?" Willow asked.  
  
"Well...I don't really know. I just know that something real dangerous was happening and...I dunno, I remember Uncle Xander saying that it had happened before and they had stopped it twice. Something about the appoca- something-or-other not standing a chance as long as mummy is around." She grinned.  
  
Buffy smiled slightly and sat up a little straighter. That was kind of encouraging, you know?  
  
"So, you three are future...us...and what exactly was going on?" Spike asked.  
  
"The apocalypse, what else?" Buffy asked sarcastically.  
  
"And...your done...it's over...and the end has yet to come...again?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Basically." Mirror-Spike said.  
  
"Well...that apocalypse defeat didn't seem to take long." Buffy said.  
  
"Yeah, it was strange, but it was really easy this time." Future-Buffy said, "I think it had something to do with having done it twice before...and maybe the fact that the evil leader guy didn't expect much."  
  
"Personally, I think the guy was bored and decided to declare the end of the world." Willow shrugged.  
  
"You're probably right, Willow." Spike agreed.  
  
"Did you--I--er--yeah...just call her Willow?"  
  
"Yes....I did."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because....after several years, I finally manage to beat it into your head that my name is Willow not red." The red head nodded. "That took some work, too." She looked up at her past-self, "Get ready for it, it's hard work getting our name into his head!"  
  
"Thanks for the heads up." She grinned, "Ya know, I'm glad this was something to do with the future instead of an alternate reality..." "Last time we dealt with alternate realties...we ended up with a vampiric- us!"  
  
"That was weird!"  
  
"Alright, Aunt on, out with it, what's going on? And why are we tellin' everyone about all this?" Lydia had taken her place in her past- father's lap now.  
  
"To be honest, hun, I was planning on bringing you back."  
  
"But I like this daddy! He's new to being a daddy! It's FUN! AND, he buys me stuff." The little girl had a huge grin on her face.  
  
"Like what?" Buffy asked, looking squarely at the old Spike that she hadn't seen in awhile; not that her Spike looked any different or anything.  
  
"A leather jacket! It's just like daddy's! Both of their's!" She grinned, "It was fun!" She turned to the man who's lap she had invaded, "Daddy...can we go to the mall again?"  
  
"Um, no, pet....not...right now."  
  
The young girl shook her head, "Of course not now, silly!"  
  
"So, have you fallen for the crestfallen look, yet?" The other Spike asked.  
  
"Yes...ever since she got here..." He muttered. "It's insane! I was never like this before!"  
  
"Get used to it. You fall for that look from the time she's two...I still fall for it, occasionally."  
  
"That's because, as years go on, you get softer and softer, darling." Buffy teased.  
  
"No, it's just...you've see the look, Buffy!"  
  
"Yet I still tell her no. I don't fall for her crying, either."  
  
["How can you stand that? The child crying and everything?"] Both Spike's said.  
  
"The same way you control impulse buying for yourself. I just do it with the kid."  
  
"Yeah, and spend the money on yourself." Spike muttered.  
  
"Hey! I deserve the stuff I bought yesterday, Spike!"  
  
"Just like Lydia deserves the leather jacket that the other me got her." He smirked.  
  
"Mummy..." Lydia looked down at her mother, head to the side. "Do I have to come back?" The simple question silenced everything in both times; The past- adults looked around at each other, then to their mirror-selves, all six exchanging shocked and worried glances. "Quit looking around and tell me something!" She shouted, "Please?" She added as an afterthought, smiling innocently.  
  
"Well, honey, you don't...you don't belong in that time. We only sent you there for the time being for safety issues." Buffy said, "If we had known that it would last such a short time...you could have just stayed home."   
  
"But...I like it here." "Lydia...you can't stay there." Willow smiled sympathetically up at the girl. "You'll confuse all kinds of time-related things."  
  
"But...I like it...I don't wanna leave!"  
  
"Sweets...you can't stay there...you have to come back with us. You don't have to worry about those two, darling, they'll figure things out in time and...you'll be there as well as here." Spike said, "You'll just...be younger there because...well, we are the future and they are the past--er-- present...or something like that."  
  
"Do I have to come back, Aunt Willow?"  
  
"Two Lydia's would confuse time, hun. Not to mention drive everyone there absolutely nuts. On top of that, who knows what kind of things might happen. You really need to come back to your own time and let us live our other lives to get to where you are here."  
  
Lydia sighed, "Ok..." She looked at the puddle-like place on the cloth. "When do I need to come back?"  
  
"Tonight would probably be best, since everything is already set up in both times." Willow said.  
  
"But...can't I stay one more night?"  
  
"Honey, your father and I miss you...we want you back." Buffy said.  
  
"But...mumma...it's just one more night...why can't I...just stay...just one more night..."  
  
"Why are you so adamant about staying just this one more night, Sweet Bit?"  
  
"I just...I dunno..."  
  
"I know you know, quit lying."  
  
"You're real blatant, aren't you?" Spike asked.  
  
"Daddy....please...I just..."  
  
Spike looked down at the little girl sitting in his lap. He could almost feel the sadness radiating from the child and this...was killing him, just like it did every other time he had seen her cry. "Lydia..."  
  
She looked up at him, "Hmm?"  
  
"Why do you want to stay? Just last night...you were saying that you wanted the daddy you knew...know you can have him back and...you don't want to. Why?"  
  
"I dunno...I just...It's only one more night! I don't see the big deal! It's not fair!" She leaned against the man she had been calling daddy for the past several weeks. "Why can't I just stay?"  
  
"Listen, pet...Look down there in that puddle, look down there." The girl leaned over and looked, then leaned back into him. "You see...see your parents?" She nodded. "They miss you...can't you see it? You don't want to make your parents sad, now do you?" She shook her head. "Then why don't you go back...go back to the time where you belong."  
  
"Because...I wanna stay here!"  
  
"You want your mum and dad to be happy, luv?"  
  
She nodded, "Uh-huh..."  
  
"Well, I think that your mum and dad would be really happy if you go back to them." He whispered in her ear.  
  
She giggled, "But--"  
  
"No buts..go on..."  
  
"But, I--"  
  
"No."  
  
She was going to start again, but she stopped, then her brain didn't seem to be able to figure out another word, so she simply stuck her tongue out at the man. "Mmm! Not fair!"  
  
"Life isn't always fair, pet."  
  
"Fine..." She muttered. She went over to sit in Willow's lap again. Looking straight at her parents, she said: "I'm coming home!" She said, a big smile plaster on her face.  
  
Notes - The next chapter will be the last, guys! I know, I know...sadness and tears...or not. Oh well...laughs Anyway, this was "technically" I guess...the "last" chapter. The next one is more of a whole-wrap up. Kind of like a showing of the lives of the "Current" versions of above-mentioned people without Lydia in their lives and the "Future" versions of aforementioned people with her back home. nods Yep, yep...Later! 


End file.
